Pharaonic princess's tomb found near Cairo

CAIRO -- Czech archaeologists have unearthed the 4,500-year-old tomb of a Pharaonic princess south of Cairo, an official from Egypt's antiquities ministry said Saturday, Nov. 3.

Mohammed El-Bialy, an Antiquities Ministry official, said that Princess Shert Nebti's burial site is surrounded by the tombs of four high officials from the Fifth Dynasty dating to 2,500 B.C. near the famed step pyramid of Saqqara. He said the excavation was in a "very early stage" and that the site was closed to the public.

Inscriptions on the four limestone pillars of the Princess' tomb indicate that she is the daughter of King Men Salbo.

"She is the daughter of the king, but only her tomb is there. ... We don't know anything about her father, the king, or her mother, but hope that future discoveries will answer these questions," El-Bialy said.

The archaeologists working at the site are from the Czech Institute of Egyptology, which is funded by the Charles University of Prague. Their excavation began this month.

Grandma claims millions just in time

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- For more than five months -- while Julie Cervera struggled to pay a $600 electrical bill and feed her family -- she was a millionaire without knowing it.

Meanwhile, her $23 million lottery ticket languished forgotten in the glove compartment of her car.

"I never check my tickets," Cervera said Friday. But when she finally looked in the glove compartment, the ticket was right where she left it.

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It was set to expire Nov. 26.

On Thursday, someone texted her a photo of her daughter, Charliena Marquez, buying the winning ticket for her at a Palmdale Liquor store. The photo had been released by lottery officials searching for the mysterious winner of the May drawing.

"I put my 99-cent glasses on, and I had to put two pairs on to see it," said Cervera, 69, of Victorville. She recognized her daughter, but she still couldn't read the caption.

"I thought she robbed a bank because I couldn't see the words on top," Cervera said with a laugh. "So I put on a third pair (of glasses) and it said she won. I was like, 'No way!'"

Sudan blocking U.N. investigation

CAIRO -- The international peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region said Saturday that its forces were blocked by the military from reaching the destination of an alleged attack that killed 10 people.

The hybrid U.N. and African Union peacekeeping force said that mourners brought 10 bodies reportedly killed in Friday's attack to the gate of its headquarters in Darfur on Saturday. The Sudanese military blocked its convoy from reaching the area of the alleged attack to gather information on the incident, it added. It is not clear who was behind the killings.

Meanwhile, Sudan blasted a recent renewal of U.S. sanctions, calling it harmful to Sudanese people and an attempt to obstruct "fighting of poverty and unemployment."

Barak rejects aide's remarks on Egypt

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has distanced himself from remarks made by one of his senior aides, who dubbed Egypt's government a "shocking dictatorship" and said there was no dialogue between the countries.

Barak said the comments, made by Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad, do not reflect Israel's position. Barak also said that Gilad's words came after he spoke at length about the importance of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Gilad was speaking to students in the city of Herzliya. The remarks were widely reported Saturday by Israeli media.

"There has been a tremendous historic change in Egypt with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood," Gilad said. "We do not exist as far as they are concerned."

The peace agreement with Egypt is critical to Israeli security, and Israel's leaders do not want to damage the already strained relationship.

Anti-Taliban official killed in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD -- A prominent anti-Taliban politician in northwestern Pakistan was killed Saturday in a suicide bombing, underscoring the dangers faced by politicians oppose the insurgents.

Police officials said the bomber detonated explosives near a filling station while a vehicle carrying the politician, Fateh Khan, passed by in a town in the Buner district, in the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Two security guards working for Khan and three passers-by also died in the attack, seen as an act of retribution.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack and warned of more assassinations. "Our mujahedeen killed him," he said in a telephone interview. "We carried out this noble deed."

Khan had long been a member of the Awami National Party, a secular party that opposes the Taliban.

Suicide blast rocks

Somalian eatery

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A police official said a security guard died while fending off suicide bombers who were trying to storm into a popular Mogadishu restaurant.

Yusuf Abdi said Saturday that security guards at the gate of the Village restaurant shot at the two suicide bomber who tried to enter without going through the security check.

Abdi said the bombers detonated their explosives killing one guard.

The blast shattered the restaurant's glass windows and punctured the tires of luxury cars parked outside.

Merkel: Euro crisis to last for years

BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Europe's sovereign debt crisis will last at least five more years.

Merkel says the continent is on the right path to overcome the crisis but "whoever thinks this can be fixed in one or two years is wrong."

Two years ago some heavily indebted European countries were dragged into the turmoil that first gripped global financial markets in 2007.

Officials said Rahmatullah Khan died Saturday while trying to reach a police outpost that was under Taliban attack.

The killing comes a day after four policemen were shot dead in southern Helmand province by their own colleagues.

Taliban spokesman Qari Jusuf Ahmedi said Saturday that the killers fled and joined the guerrillas.

--From news services

Misidentified 2010 plane crash victim reburied

WARSAW, Poland -- A repeat burial was held on Saturday for Poland's last president-in-exile, whose body was misidentified and buried in the wrong grave following the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed 96 people.

A funeral Mass attended by family members was held for Ryszard Kaczorowski at Warsaw's Temple of God's Providence and then the body was laid to rest in the church's vaults, with military honors.

Forensic experts confirmed last week that his body had been confused with that of another victim and was buried in the wrong grave. Officials would not release the name of the other victim or the time of his re-burial.

It was the second time that repeat burials were held for a pair of victims whose identities were confused by family members and Polish officials after the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and many top state and military officials.